Hey there weekday warrior,
ICYMI, IG’s algo glitch was mainlining graphic, violent videos into users’ feeds Wednesday night.
Enjoy the next 4 minutes and 17 seconds of blue-chip news and commentary.
Keep on snapping necks and cashing checks,
PS, Lite newsletter today and Monday. Back to normal Tuesday.
PPS, the worst part of these short newsletters is when you say you like it better, and I realize I could have written 500-700 fewer words each day for the past 7 years.
Source: Giphy
Will my Meta smart glasses display violent content against my will? Asking for a friend…
Meta (-2.2%) is still trying to make smart glasses happen. But normies need not apply for access to this pair. Zuck debuted the new Aria Gen 2 smart glasses, designed for researchers to use while they build robotic systems and other technology.
Meanwhile, in the NSFW Metaverse, an error caused Instagram’s algorithm to push disturbing and violent videos of fatal shootings and horrific accidents to a ton of users late Wednesday (think: 4chan You Page). Meta apologized to the snowflakes users who didn’t want to consume snuff films while doomscrolling for memes on the toilet.
Meta Bonus Round…
Zuck woke up and chose violent videos headlines Thursday. Meta also announced it is doing what it does best: stealing other people’s ideas. It is making a push to become ChatGPT 2.0 by launching its own standalone AI chatbot app.
+ “I can fix her” - Elon looking at the FAA
Starlink is about to be unleashed on the Federal Aviation Administration. Elon is sending satellite internet terminals to air traffic controllers to save them from what he claims is a system that is “breaking down very rapidly”. To be fair, my IG algo has been showing a lot of violent plane crash videos lately…
The FAA has been considering Starlink tech for a while at remote sites like Alaska. Meanwhile, Verizon (+0.2%) went all “you better lawyer up a**hole” in a statement, pointing out that they’ve already entered a multi-year contract with the FAA to replace antiquated systems.
+ “The future is now, old man” - GPT-4.5
OpenAI announced the preview of its latest model. ChatGPT-4.5 will roll out to paid users over the next 2 weeks. Sam Altman called GPT-4.5 a “giant, expensive model” that’s only limited by the number of GPUs OpenAI has to work with (thus, the slow rollout). And NVDA investors haven’t been this horned up since *checks notes* yesterday.
The new model reportedly returns inaccurate information less frequently than previous versions. Take notes, Apple Intelligence. ChatGPT Pro subscribers will get access to the new model first, so for a cool $200 a month, you can test-drive Grok’s less-talented older brother.
+ Nightmare blunt rotation. Blue Origin is sending Katy Perry, CBS’ Gayle King, and Bezos’ fiancée Lauren Sanchez on the first all-female crewed mission to space this spring. This has Titan submarine written all over it…
+ The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is taking a page out of the SEC’s new playbook. CFPB just shut down several investigations into major financial orgs, including its case against Capital One (+0.1%). What’s in Jonathan McKernan’s wallet?
+ RIP drywall everywhere. Monster Beverage (+0.5% // AH: +3.4%) reported a Q4 revenue beat ($1.81B) and earnings miss ($270.7M).
+ The happiest people never do these 7 things, says expert. #3: Forget to take their SSRIs.
FYI, TWC might be compensated if you click on the links above. So, what are you waiting for? Start clicking.
+ US stocks “plummeted on Thursday as tech sold off following Nvidia's latest earnings report while investors took stock of the economy amid President Trump's latest tariff pledges.” (Yahoo! Finance)
+ The 10-year yield was “higher on Thursday as investors studied the latest weekly jobless claims, January durable goods orders and President Donald Trump’s most recent tariff threats.” (CNBC)
+ Oil “prices rose more than 2% on Thursday as supply concerns resurfaced after U.S. President Donald Trump revoked a license granted to U.S. oil major Chevron to operate in Venezuela.” (Reuters)
+ The three most talked about stocks on WallStreetBets in the past 24 hours were: 1) Visa +1.4% 2) Nvidia -8.4% 3) Hims & Hers Health -1.3%
⏪ Yesterday…
+ Vistra, TD Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, Papa John's, J.M. Smucker, and Novavax reported before the bell
+ Rocket Lab USA, Dell, SoundHound AI, Duolingo, HP, Archer Aviation, NuScale, Autodesk, Monster, Elastic., NetApp, and Redfin reported after the bell
⏩ Today we’re keeping an eye on…
+ fuboTV reports before the bell
+ Core PCE (think: the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge) for January drops
Yesterday, I asked, “You HAVE to switch lives with one of them. Which Mag 7 CEO are you becoming?”
Elon Musk won with 32.0% of the vote.
Here’s what some of you guys had to say…
Elon Musk: “Be the richest person in the world, but I would chill and not try to control the world. Take a couple vacations, and pick up golf as a full time hobby. Good luck breaking 85. ”
Jensen Huang: “No one else can rock a leather jacket and... PCB shield? quite like Huang.”
Zuck: “He owns half an island in Hawaii. I would remote work from there until the board fired me and then just live on my Hawaiian island forever”
Tim Apple: “I did the research and he is the only one without kids (allegedly) so I will take his place and get myself up to some Musk numbers.”
Sundar Pichai: “Never underestimate Google”
And here’s today’s question…
I can’t believe it took me this long to ask this…
Have you ever read The Water Coolest on the toilet?
current situation
— #rwlk (#@sherlock_hodles)
7:30 PM • Feb 26, 2025
Oh, and one more thing…
What did you think about today's newsletter?
Does this look like the face of a guy you should take financial advice from?
No, it’s the face of an individual who is financially irresponsible/dumb enough to be talked into spending money on a family photo shoot that he could have just done with his iPhone. So, act accordingly...
This is not financial advice. Nothing in this newsletter is an investment recommendation. All content is created for entertainment, educational, or informational purposes only. Do your own research, or do yourself a favor and hire a professional.